Nine Inch Nails Track ‘Discipline’ Just a Taste of Much More?

Posted 04/23/2008 3:31:01 pm
by MTV News.

Trent Reznor is like a kid in a candy store — one that only sells black licorice, sour-patch gummy razorblades, and bleeding eyeball bubblegum, but still. The Nine Inch Nails leader is once again celebrating his freedom from major-label shackles by following up the surprise release of his many-pronged Ghosts I-IV instrumental album with a new song, “Discipline.”

The track was sent to radio stations around the world on Tuesday afternoon. And according to reports, the classic slab of NIN angst was mastered just one day before, further accelerating the musical arms race — between acts like The Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley — to get their music out while the master tapes are still warm.

A message posted this past Monday (which is now seemingly purged from the site) also hinted ominously at another surprise in “2 weeks.” This is similar to the message Reznor posted in February preceding the release of Ghost.

Oh, how does the song sound? Not bad. Could have been a Year Zero outtake.

It starts out with those robot drums and buzzing keyboards, and grows from a spare dirge into what threatens to be a full-on techno rocker — before pulling back into a restrained boil as Reznor sings lyrics like “I’m losing touch/ Nothing matters to me/ Nothing matters as much.” Best line? “I need your discipline/ Because once I start, I cannot stop myself.” Which, if you’re a NIN fan (or maybe into S&M) sounds like seriously good news.